The Athletic Bilbao Courier
Squad20 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Unai Simón out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match18 Aug 2035
Athletic Bilbao cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings20 Aug 2035
Nico Williams, 33, rolls back the years — 8.46
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.46 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Oihan Sancet in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market20 Aug 2035
Athletic Bilbao say no — this time
The offer from Albacete for Jaime Medina was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market20 Aug 2035
The Ez Abde conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Girona will make the call about Ez Abde this week. Athletic Bilbao have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Words at Athletic Bilbao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikel Jauregizar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Alejandro Solís is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
Graduation day at Athletic Bilbao
10 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
- Match Oihan Sancet sends Athletic Bilbao past Huesca
- Market Luka Sanz steps up from the Athletic Bilbao academy
- Market Nil Delgado steps up from the Athletic Bilbao academy